One of our favorite ways to target bonefish (and we have a feeling, your’s too) is on foot. There’s something about stalking fish on foot that gets an angler’s blood pumping, and we’re really lucky to do a lot of it at Andros South.

In fisheries like ours, there are a whole bunch of huge flats made up of all kinds of different bottoms from hard sand, to soft mud, to sharp limestone. It’s not uncommon to hop out of the boat in the morning and not return until lunch time. Therefore, a sturdy pair of flats boots are really, really important.

One pair of boots that we seen a lot of on our flats over the past couple seasons are the Orvis Andros Flats Hiker Boots. In fact, we heard so many good things about them from our guests that we felt we had to stomp around in them ourselves! We logged a good amount of miles on our flats with them this season, really liked them, and today we’ll tell you why.

Sturdy, but not stiff. One thing we really like about these boots is that even though they are more than sturdy enough for any bottom you might encounter, and provide plenty of support, the sole still flexes enough to provide some ‘feel’ of the bottom when you’re walking. In other words, they feel less clunky, and more nimble when creeping around the flats, and thus more comfortable as well.

Really good ankle support. Miles from the boat on a remote bonefish flat is no place to roll an ankle. Therefore we really dig the high ankle support on these boots.

Surprisingly light. We’ll be the first to admit that the first time we saw these boots we thought they’d be uncomfortably heavy. But, outside of neoprene booties, they’re actually some of the lightest flats boots we’ve used.. Seriously!

They’re appropriately named. For fisheries like ours on South Andros, we think these boots are some of the better boots on the market today.. So yeah, we can’t help but like the name.

The Andros Flats Hiker Boots retail for $149.00. For more information, check them out on Orvis’ website, here.

We travel quite a bit with fishing gear, and you might think we have our ‘travel system’ down to a science. However, we’re always looking for new ways to travel with rods and reels that’s not only convenient, but also gets our gear to our destination in one piece.

Orvis Safe Passage Carry-It-All Rod and Gear Case

Let’s face it, rods and reels aren’t cheap. Therefore, we like to travel with our rods and reels on us whenever possible. For the most part, we’ve found most airlines to be pretty excepting with carrying on rods and reels. However, we have heard of some airlines starting to crack down on bringing rod tubes onto the plane. Not to worry, the Carry-It-All case is a great solution!

Hard sided with a slim profile, the Carry-It-All case is able to safely house up to six four-piece fly rods and plenty of other gear (ahem, like reels) in a package basically the size of a violin case. We won’t go so far as to say it’s guaranteed to meet carry- on requirements, as we’ve been surprised before. However, we will say we haven’t had an issue yet! Here are a few of our favorite features.

Rod Protection

Traveling with rod tubes can be a bit of a pain; they’re big, clunky, and occasionally subject to being gate checked. However, with the Carry-It-All, no rod tubes are needed as the hard plastic sides keep the case from being crushed. Simply store rods in their socks and latch down with Orvis’ clever magnetized straps to keep from bouncing around.

Safe and secure.

Customizable Dividers

The Carry-It-All features simple customizable velcro dividers to allow you to best organize your gear. With the orientation of the dividers shown below, we were able to comfortably fit six 9 foot, 4 piece fly rods, 4 large reels, 2 large fly boxes, and a dslr camera that, you guessed it, was used to take this photo!

The Carry-It-All is not only useful for the angler flying from destination to destination however, it also makes for great organization in the pickup as well!

Tons of room in a small package.

Aside from the main compartment, the Carry-It-All also features three mesh pockets that are great for smaller items like leaders, tippet, fly lines, and so on, as well as zippered pockets on the outside for passports or other travel documents.

Durability

One of the first things we noticed when we got our hands on the Carry-It-All was how well it appeared to be made. The outer fabric is made of a super rugged cordura-like material that we honestly can’t see wearing out any time soon. The case also features a comfortable shoulder strap that can be removed if used as checked luggage.

Rugged.

Conclusion

If you can’t already tell, we really like the Carry-It-All case. We think its a great option for the angler looking for a better way to transport their single hand fly rods. While it’s not quite long enough to carry rods over 9 feet in length, Orvis also makes a larger model to accomodate single hand and switch rods up to 11 feet long as well.

The Carry-It-All case retails for $159.00 ($179.00 for large model) and comes in two colors. For more information, check it out on Orvis’ website, here.

As many of you have probably heard, the hot news in the fly fishing industry is that Orvis recently purchased Ross and Scientific Anglers from 3M.

Our buddy Louis from Gink and Gasoline put together a very intelligent write up on the subject – since industry gossip and commentary seem to be right up everybody’s alley, we’re dedicating today’s post to suggestion you have a read.

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Deneki Outdoors operates fishing lodges in Alaska, The Bahamas, British Columbia, and Chile.

Our blog gives anglers a daily dose of life on the water. We combine fishing reports, tips, gear reviews, information about our operations and special guest posts with pictures and stories, all related to our fisheries and beyond.

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